September 8, 2024

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As a priest, baptisms are one of my favorite sacraments to celebrate. Mass is obviously the first, confession would be second place, but baptism is solidly in third. Third place out of seven is not all the impressive now that I think about it, but the seven sacraments are the only reason we priests exist!

The Gospel today shows Christ healing the deaf and mute man, restoring his ability to hear and speak. There is a particular blessing done during the ritual of baptism where the priest or deacon blesses the ears and mouth of the child so that they may receive His Word with their ears and profess the faith with their lips, to the glory and praise of God the Father. The gift of hearing and speech is perhaps something we take for granted when we realize those who are without them. With the gift that is my ability to speak, my tongue can praise God, recite prayers, read poetry, announce lovely things. I can also use this ability to curse, slander, gossip, and blaspheme. It’s no different than any other abilities or appetites we have. They can be properly ordered and informed by their Creator, or we can abuse them to our own fallen wills and whims.

Within the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, actual participation of the people means involving the entirety of ourselves. When we cross the threshold of a Church, we are to bless ourselves with holy water. Before we take our pew, we genuflect before our Lord present in the tabernacle (it is our right knee that should touch the ground. Our right knee is for God, the left knee is for the pope or any king or queen we encounter.) Mass is meant to have sacred music, Gregorian chant and the organ taking pride of place. We burn incense to worship the Lord, and those clouds of smoke are to symbolize our own prayers rising to the heavens and they give off the fragrance of sanctity. And ultimately, we taste our Eucharistic Lord, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity present in the Blessed Sacrament. The whole of ourselves is meant to be active in the Holy Sacrifice. All five senses, my mind, body, and soul, God deserves the fullness of our attention in this way.

God also deserves our best. That will change depending on the person, or even depending on the day, but offering God our best is the way in which we honor Him. The best of my attention, the best of my love, the best of my clothing (“Sunday best” is a phrase for a reason.) Who else is more worthy of my best? Why would I withhold parts of myself or my abilities from the God who gave them to me in the first place?

Perhaps we do not need God to restore our hearing and speech, but we need him to restore our fallen deficiencies to their intended and created fullness. Whatever splinter we have in our eye, blockage in our ears, stammer upon our tongue, may the good Lord bring his healing presence to us, so that we may be made whole. In order that our lives may be full in him, and of him. When we are at our best, we are most alive with the life he created us to enjoy. May we spend our days making ourselves a gift back to him, that we offer him the fullness of ourselves, our very best.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Brendan